The present invention relates to a resilient marine fender for protecting a boat or other marine vessel or craft from damage resulting from impact against a marine structure such as a boat dock, pier or like marine structure.
To cushion small marine craft, such as motorized pleasure and fishing boats, from the impact forces resulting from contact with fixed marine structures such as the pilings of piers and docks to which such vessels are commonly secured when docked, the owners and operators of such vessels commonly follow the practice of securing an impact absorbing material to the side of their crafts which would be compressed between the craft and the other structure and thus cushion the craft from the impact forces. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,403 to Russell discloses a marine bumper having an interconnected pair of hollow deformable bodies which can be tied to a marine craft.
The need for cushioning the marine craft and the structures to which they dock from detrimental impact forces has also given rise to protective structures adapted to be mounted on the docks or marine structures themselves. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,257 to Brown, Jr., discloses a more structurally substantial marine fender adapted for absorbing relatively large amounts of energy upon repeated compression for use, for example, on oceanic marine structures, such as on an off shore oil platform for use in cushioning large ocean going vessels even under relatively severe conditions.
The Russell patent also discloses the possible use of the bumper disclosed therein for mounting around a marine piling. However, unless such cushioning structures are permanently or rigidly secured in place on the marine structure, such as by chaining as shown in the Brown, Jr., patent, the cushioning structure will be subject to displacement from its desired disposition on the marine structure as a result of the very contact with a marine vessel for which the cushioning structure is intended.